


the sky beneath you

by Dong Quixote (derechoes)



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Horseback Riding, Invisible Kingdom | Revelation Route, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-24 21:35:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14962631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/derechoes/pseuds/Dong%20Quixote
Summary: "...and suddenly Sakura isn't looking at Prince Leo, second to the throne of Nohr, wielder of the divine tome Brynhildr, but just Leo, a boy who grew up too fast, who likes chess and books and history, who against all odds she has come to consider a friend."





	the sky beneath you

Sakura's hair whips behind her as her as she tugs on her reins, and she lurches forward, just a little, as her pegasus slows from a canter, to a trot, and then to a leisurely walk.  Her calves burn, she's sweating in her robes, and she's not sure if she should be breathing so heavily, but a laugh bubbles up from her chest all the same.

 

"I never took you for a horseman." Leo's voice comes from behind her.  He catches up to her at a trot and slows down as he reaches her side, matching her pace.  His black mare snorts at her pegasus, who shakes his head in response.

 

"I'm- I'm not," she says.  The short time she had spent training trying to emulate Hinoka had not been wasted on her, but she wasn't her sister, wasn’t Subaki, certainly wasn’t even close in skill to any one of Leo’s perpetually mounted siblings.

 

“Did I not just see you sprint across this field, bareback, and survive?” Leo asks, raising a blond eyebrow.

 

“I was hanging on for dear life!” she protests. “S-surely, that is the bare minimum of what’s expected?” Her grip on the reins loosens, and she allows her legs to dangle at her pegasus’ bare sides.  Leo, too, has eschewed his saddle for this impromptu ride. His mount looks bare, Sakura thinks, without its armor and equipment. The mare is smaller than she realized, but no less sturdy.

 

“Sure.  But the lesser alternative to adequacy for something as risky as riding is unacceptable,” he reasons.

 

“There... is _another_ alternative to adequacy, y-you know,” insists Sakura. “Excellence.”

 

He chuckles at that. “You’re correct.  Though I assure you -- you’re doing more than well.”

 

The two fall into a comfortable pace as they work their way across the field.  Insects buzz in the background, hidden in the overgrown grass, the hazy sound of midsummer.  She knows intuitively that Castle Shirasagi is close past the treetops, that she is only a short flight from her family, her retainers, her duties, but a breeze brushes her face and fills her lungs with the scent of wildflowers and her worries fade.

 

Leo seems equally content, and Sakura realizes that his horse is not the only one who looks bare.  It's strange to see him dressed so casually, a loose shirt and breeches in place of the armor she is so used to.  On his little spitfire of a horse, he looks almost boyish.

 

"Say, do you jump?" he asks, abruptly.  His mare has stopped to chew on the grass, and he makes no move to nudge her back into walking.  Her pegasus follows suit. Sakura take her reins in one hand and scratches his mane idly with the other.

 

"Well…" Her mind flashes back to a memory of Hinoka comforting her, patting dirt off her clothing as she nurses a bruised arm and tears roll down her cheeks.   _Falling is a fact of riding, Sakura.  The important part is that you get back up!_ "I don't… make a habit of it.  A-and besides, isn't flying just a… very extended jump?" she jokes.

 

He gives a little snort of amusement.  It's very unprincely. "Truth be told, I prefer having my feet on the ground.  I've no taste for heights, I'm afraid."

 

"Do you not fly, Leo?"

 

"If I have a choice? No." After a moment, he adds: "Camilla can be, ah, pushy." That makes sense; she has seen him flying with others during battle, but she cannot recall him ever being the lead rider.  Still, for a moment, the image of Camilla dragging a much younger Leo onto her wyvern pops into her head, and Sakura struggles to hide her smile.

 

"You seem to enjoy it, though," says Leo.  His eyes flick over to the wings of her pegasus, folded neatly along its sides.

 

"Oh, yes.  I do. Riding, flying… I'm no expert, but I am quite fond of it," she replies. "It's, um.  My reason, it's a little silly, actually…" She feels her cheeks flushing again, this time not from exertion.  She gathers up her reins and nudges her legs against her mount's sides, and gestures for Leo to follow. Her mount eases into a trot, and Sakura has to lean back and clench her muscles in order to keep from bouncing up and down on her pegasus' back.

 

"Please.  I'm afraid of heights.  It can't be sillier than that, surely?"

 

"It's p-perfectly reasonable to be afraid of heights!" She shakes her head, unsure of what else to say.  Dappled shade from a sparse grove of trees passes over her, a natural divider between fields, and she is once again in the sunlight. This one is open, spacious -- good for running.

 

“Come with me,” she says, not quite a command.

 

She digs her heel into her mount's side and readies herself.  Her pegasus launches into a canter, hooves digging into soft earth, grass, flowers.  Her fingers clutch at mane, her legs tighten around her mount's chest, but her body relaxes like it was made to do this.  They're on the ground, but she feels like she's soaring.

 

Next to her, his mare matches her pace stride for stride, ears flicked back in competitive determination.  Leo throws his head back and _laughs_ , unrestrained, hair a mess and hairband crooked, and suddenly Sakura isn't looking at Prince Leo, second to the throne of Nohr, wielder of the divine tome Brynhildr, but just Leo, a boy who grew up too fast, who likes chess and books and history, who against all odds she has come to consider a friend.

 

The edge of the wood arrives with the beating of hooves and the ground blurred in front of her.  She misjudges the distance between the trees and herself and jams her leg into her pegasus' side and swerves, at the last moment, to avoid them.  Her pegasus spreads his wings, ready to take off _over_ any obstacle, but she pacifies him with a gentle word and guides him along the side of the treeline before stopping.

 

She dismounts.  Grass tickles the soles of her feet.  Leo approaches her from the side, still mounted.  He is winded and smiling.

 

"We can't ride past here!" Sakura calls out.  That's not quite true; a pegasus can easily sail past the dense trees and steep slopes too treacherous for a horse, but she has no plans of leaving a grounded Leo behind and he most likely has no intention of flying.  She watches him slide down the side of his horse in one smooth motion. He lands on his toes, light on his feet. The grass goes past the top of his boots, nearly at his knee.

 

She leads her pegasus to the side and sits herself on a fallen log.  Her pegasus bends his head down to graze, impassive, and she keeps a loose grip on the reins to keep him from going too far.  Leo unclips the reins from his mare's bridle and makes his way over, evidently trusting his horse not to wander off.

 

As he sits down next to her, she says, "You know how… w-weak I feel, next to my siblings."

 

"You are your own woman, Sakura," he reassures her, surprising her with his immediacy.  She recalls him mentioning his own insecurity within his own family, his feelings of inadequacy next to Xander and later Corrin.  She wonders if this is what he tells himself.

 

She giggles. "Yes, I am." Her hands clench at her robes, wrinkling the fabric. “Well, when I’m on the back of a pegasus, or a kinshi, even, I feel like I’m in control.  L-like my voice is being heard. I'm so -- so free." Bashful, she admits, "Even when it's difficult, riding makes me feel so _empowered_.”

 

Leo nods. “I understand,” he says, and where his sincerity is usually augmented by bluntness there are only the soft words of somebody speaking from their heart.

 

A quiet laugh escapes Sakura’s lips. “Thank you.  You… a-also make me feel heard,” she says, a bit lamely, but unsure of how else to voice how she feels.

 

“I… you…” For once, Leo fumbles over his words. “What you have to say is… worth hearing,” he settles on.  She laughs, and reaches up to straighten his hairband. When she's done, she tentatively lays her free hand over his.  His fingers curl under hers.

 

His hand is warm, and Sakura runs her thumb over his knuckles before lacing her fingers with his.  For a moment, she enjoys the quiet, punctuated by only the sound of insects and her pegasus dutifully chewing on grass.

 

"Um." Her grip on his hand tightens.

 

"Yes?"

 

"I didn't tell Hana or Subaki I'd be going anywhere…" Sakura starts.  She stands up, suddenly realizing that her retainers must be worried sick over her. "O-or the stablehands that I was taking a pegasus!  Goodness…"

 

"Er… Yes, I suppose we have been rather rash." He rises from his seat and _whistles_ , shrill in the still air.  His mare, remarkably well-trained as always, comes trotting over, and he pats her neck.  He's showing off, Sakura thinks.

 

The two of them mount with little fuss -- Sakura has to use the log as a stepstool -- and are very quickly on their way.

 

"People are expecting us," Leo says.  There's a playful glint in his eyes. "Let us make haste."

 

"W-we shouldn't keep them waiting," Sakura agrees.

 

And just like that, she's facing the wind, the path she's taking as clear as the open sky.

**Author's Note:**

> did you know that the majority of my entire creative writing repertoire up to this point has basically only been the incessant warrior cats roleplay I did in middle school thank u cats
> 
> I actually set out to write something dealing with the more technical aspects of riding, but it very quickly morphed into this.


End file.
